Welcome to People and the Earth’s Ecosystem, an interdisciplinary study of how the earth

works, how humans interact with it, and how we can address the world's environmental issues.
The concepts, facts, and issues presented in this module and the course you are taking will be
beneficial to you now and in the future since environmental issues touch every aspect of your
life.

This module is designed to enhance students understanding of basic ecology concepts in three
major areas: (1) Population, (2) Ecosystem, and (3) The Anthropogenic Impact to Environment.

Each week, about 1.6 million people are added to the world’s population. As a result, the number of
people on the earth is projected to increase from 6.7 to 9.3 billion or more between 2008 and 2050,
with most of this growth occurring in the world’s developing countries. This raises an important
question: Can the world provide an adequate standard of living for a projected 2.6 billion more people
by 2050 without causing widespread environmental damage?

Many argue that both population growth and resource consumption per person are important causes of
the environmental problems we face.

Some analysts argue there is no reason we cannot continue doing so, and they believe that the planet
can support billions more people.

Some people view any form of population regulation as a violation of their religious or moral beliefs

Others see it as an intrusion into their privacy and their freedom to have as many children as they want

They also warn of two serious consequences we will face if we do not sharply lower birth rates.

First, death rates may increase because of declining health and environmental conditions in some areas,
as is already happening in parts of Africa.

Second, resource use and environmental degradation may intensify as more consumers increase their
already large ecological footprints in developed countries and in rapidly developing countries, such as
China and India. This could increase environmental stresses such as infectious disease, biodiversity
losses, water shortages, traffic congestion, pollution of the seas, and climate change.

An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and

other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to
form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well
as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic
factors include plants, animals, and other organisms. Abiotic
factors include rocks, temperature, and humidity.
ng ekosistema (sa Ingles: ecosystem) ay isang komunidad ng mga buhay na organismo at di-
buhay na bagay sa kanilang kapaligiran (mga bagay tulad ng hangin, tubig at lupang mineral)
na nakikipag-ugnayan sa isa't-sa bilang isang sistema.